Afterward I will jump on a train and meet up with folks closer to my age to drink until I begin to believer I too am an electronic dance hipster leg-warmer Sparks fans under the age of 21. Or something like that.

I will be taking public transportation all evening long, and you should do the same. Stay safe tonight.

P.S. Mich, don't let me forget to pick up some Sparks on the way to your place tonight!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

I picked up Roberto Bolaño's 2666 today since so many people gave it high marks here and on Twitter. I would have picked up The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao at the same time but the book store was out of it.

With that said, please keep the suggestions coming! One of my resolutions is to read more and expose myself to new authors since that sort of thing seems to spark up my creative glands.

Well, I was driving down Chicago Avenue Saturday and when I passed Five Star -- one of the 3,546 unnecessary "rock bars" that have opened in the area in the last three years -- I saw a sight that immediately triggered my gag reflex. Hanging in the bar's window was the iconic outdoor Pontiac Cafe sign. The sign that had presided over many a drunken summer, shivered in sparsely populated winters, and shuddered during many bouts of Live Band Karaoke was hanging in the window of a veritable yuppie theme bar like some sort of twisted trophy.

I've been around Wicker Park for almost 15 years so I take the whole gentrification thing in stride and don't get my undies in a twist over the whole inevitability of it all ... but this particular transgression is just a big ol' slap in the face if you ask me!

We're in the midst of the slowest time of the year. Most folks are still out of the office or on vacation and a lot of bloggers I regularly read update sporadically if at all. I, however, update regularly no matter what time of year it is! And I stay pretty active elsewhere online as well. So here's a reminder that you can always subscribe to my RSS feed to make sure you get the daily content from here, and you can follow me on Twitter for bite-sized bites of info. I promise all my Tweets are NOT, "Whoa, I just sneezed" or "I'm bored."

Thursday, December 25, 2008

I remember watching the Bing Crosby's Christmas TV special with my mom as a kid. She was a Crosby fan, and she did her best to turn me onto him and other pop singers she enjoyed -- including Roger Whitaker, Barbara Streisand, and Neil Diamond -- but I'm pretty sure that it was an appearance by a certain guest star on that special that probably had a more profound subconscious effect on how I would pursue music and how my aural tastes would be shaped in later years.

What does David Bowie himself have to say about the legendary meet-up?

"He looked like a little old orange sitting on a stool ... I just knew my mother liked him."

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

I watched the season premiere of Flight of the Conchords with GalPal last night and admit I'm a tad worried about the new season. I was late to the series in the first place -- primarily because pushy publicists so deluged me with pitches that the mere thought of the show would send me into tremors -- but GalPal sat me down a few months ago and made me watch the whole series.

The result? I kicked myself for not watching it sooner!

But! The great this about the first season is that it seemed to cover all the ground you could cover and pretty neatly tied things up. I honestly don't think they ever expected to have to do a second season! But here they are, and here it is ... and the result? Well, I'm undecided at this point. The premier has its moments, but it's pretty obviously a bridge between the two season as it attempts to untie all the resolution of last season's finale.

Despite this wobbly beginning I am cautiously optimistic. And I admit that since I am still rather new to the series, and have relatively only recently seen the whole thing, my expectations might be higher than someone who was into it from the get-go but has had a long vacation from it.

Anyway, enough jabber from me. Why don't you watch the episode -- in full below 00 and let me know what you think?

Now that my favorite albums of the year have been revealed in full on Chicagoist, my top songs of the year are now listed as well. The tunes I picked are all songs that will scream "2008!" any time I hear 'em. They may not be the highest charting singles, and some are barely even known to more than a handful of people ... but they are the top tracks on the mixtape that defines the feeling and experiences of 2008 for me.

Today is the day my albums of the year list goes up at Chicagoist. The list with write-ups is scheduled to go live later this morningnow live, but since you're a loyal reader of this site I'll give you a sneak peak. Keep in mind that these are just the albums that grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and just would not let go in 2008. They aren't all works of high art, but they are all pieces that resonated with me and kept finding their way into regular rotation amongst playlists inhumanly stuffed with a constant influx of new material. This is the stuff that made a mark on me in 2008, and stand a decent chance of still seeping into my headphones awhiles down the road.Check out the full write-ups on my picks on Chicagoist.

Monday, December 22, 2008

It just looks like a wasteland frozen in time outside. When temperatures drop down to below zero Fahrenheit before factoring in wind chill on a blustery day you know than Mother Nature is not fucking around. You realize just how insanely cold it is when your beagle can't even make it up the stairs because she's shivering so bad forcing you to bundle her up in your coat and carry her up three treacherous flights of iced stairs. Your apartment just won't seem to heat up even though the thermostat is near 80 degrees and your bedroom is the worst since you suspect that the drafts shooting across your floor are the result of the structural damage the building suffered when their was a fire in the apartment below a few years ago. Plus, your bedroom faces about 6 blocks of unobstructed air space so those winds do a fie job of pummeling your face of the building and creating a nice chillbox effect.

Look, we Midwesterners are used to this -- and I know our friends to the north deal with even colder temps more regularly, so forgive me me if you are from such a locale and consider this whining -- but this is ridiculous!Photo by lbanks27

But I am too wordy about a group who treats brevity so professionally. Why are they sticking in my sonic craw so firmly? It's because Friendly Foes is a SUPERgroup i.e. they remind me of a cross between Superdrag, Supergrass, and Superchunk. They are the perfect vicious indie-pop Minneapolis-based band of 1986 / 1996 ... that didn't form until 2006 ... in Detroit.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

GalPal: oh godme: what?GalPal: woxy number one song of the yearwait for it...me: is?GalPal: EVIL URGES!me: WHAT?!GalPal: OH MY GOD!me: they are highand drunkGalPal: are they delusional?me: and stupid stupid stupidGalPal: that song is not good not goodi mean even for my morning jacketme: no, not at allGalPal: ugh, i about fell out of my chairme: i actually just deleted that album off tankPOD becasue it sucked so bad.GalPal: hahame: (except for aluminum park, i still like that song)GalPal: you did defend that songme: it did not age wellGalPal: no , no it did not.me: yeahthat's itWOXY has lost all my respectGalPal: woxy gets a wag of the finger.me: maybe it's run byBEARS!GalPal: AAAAAHHH!hahahahai cant even listen to this song anymore...back to the bird.me: the birdhello bird!GalPal: heeah, much better :)me: indeed

Chia Pet's first album -- Elpee -- previously available ONLY on vinyl and long out-of-print, is finally out as a digital download! It was the very first release on Johann's Face Records and I remember excitedly buying it at one of their infamous shows at The Gallery down in Normal, IL. The were sort of the de facto insane house bandthat wowed recent grads and current students and cool kids in Palatine in the late '80s. They jumbled punk, funk, soul, and gutterpunch opera-rock into an unddeniable danceparty mush machine that prompted many a nubile young thang to partially of fully disrobe mid-show. (See: the Naked Parties of '89.)

I actually bought a couple extra vinyl copies of Elpee a few years ago because my original copy had grown a bit warped from overplay, but I haven't really brought them into DJ sets in the last few years since I moved from vinyl to CDs and finally iPods. So I immediately plunked down the seven bucks for the digital download and you can bet your ass these tunes will start regularly popping up in my DJ sets for the foreseeable future. It's time to spread the word!

Tonight I am DJing at Moonshine with some members of The Dragon Wars DJ collective (A-Cup, Mother Hubbard, Matt DuFour, Derek Berry) and we'll be spinning rock throughout the night. Anything goes, so it should be a blast. It also looks to be my last full solo set of the year (not including holiday parties or the possible gig with a visiting friend coming in from out of town). And it's affordable! No cover! $3 PBR! $4 Maker's Mark or Jameson!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

While I have always respected Andrew Bird, I've never really been a fan ... until seeing him play Hideout last Monday. I remember him playing The Note with The Bowl of Fire yeeeears ago, and haven't seen him since then, but man-oh-man has he really grown into his own!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Got a late start this A.M. and have to run into work, so ... that's it for today! I'm going to try and get CSS and Andrew Bird photos done tonight so look for those to pop up on Chicagoist.

Also, after seeing Bird at Hideout last night I finally get why everyone loves him. It had been almost a decade since I last saw him play, and while I've appreciated his output over the years he's never really connected with me. Well, last night, he did. Impressive.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Man had I forgotten how much DJing until 4 a.m. can take out of me! At least I'm up and mobile now, and prepping to shoot pictures of the Andrew Bird show at Hideout tonight. Expect a more verbose version of me to resume writing duties tomorrow!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Two big gigs this weekend! First off, after CSS plays Metro this Sunday, head downstairs to Smart Bar and join me and Rudy as we DJ the after party! I am VERY EXCITED about this since it's my first time DJing at Smart Bar. You know how all local bands are stoked the first time they ever get to play Metro? Well, Smart Bar is the DJ equivalent of that. We start at 10 and will keep the party rocking until 4. I know it's a Sunday night but I would LOVE it if we got a lot of people in there and made it a night to remember. Or at least a night to piece back together the next day.

ADDED INCENTIVE: Cheap beer and FREE PIZZA! Woo hoo!

Tonight the boys in Big Science asked me to DJ after their EP release party at Hideout. I know there's a whole lot going on tonight but if you don't have any plans I highly recommend stopping by to catch their set and then stick around and dance to tunes selected by me and JB afterward. I saw these guys open for OFFICE a few months ago and they immediately won me over with the hard rockin' tunes with a slight new-wave edge.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

GalPal and I went to see Land Of The Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker last night and it was, um, interesting. It was definitely classy, and filled with talented burlesque performances by both sexes, but I could have done without 70% of the between act "banter" from the show's MC. No fault of his, but the script was kind of lame. They should have replaced him with more antics from the two ladies playing slap-your-thigh hilarious snowflakes or the risque but rivetingly mischievous maid that popped out between acts.

The stand-out acts were definitely delivered high above the stage by The Aerialistas -- talk about mixing sex and the threat of death -- and the special appearance by Chicago's Michelle L'amour as The Snow Queen. We've interviewed her a few times for Chicagoist but this was the first time I'd seen her perform ... and I have to admit her reputation is well founded. Her set was hypnotic.

The whole thing ran just about two hours and by the end GalPal and I both packed ourselves into a cab and made out our way home, visions of half-naked Sugar Plum Fairies still dancing in our heads.

If you want to read about my state's incredibly and ineptly corrupt Governor, Chicagoist is ALL over it. Instead, I prefer to bring your attention to this brilliant bit of Stephen Colbert skewering the parking system in my fair city. He nails it as only a previous Chicago resident could.

In other news it's GalPal's birthday today! Happy birthday! We're going to Schubas to see her friends Hey Champ open for Sebastien Tellier to celebrate this auspicious occasion. Here is a preview of the look she will probably be giving me later this night. As you look at it, imagine her saying, "Really? Really?!"

Monday, December 08, 2008

Dragonette's "I Get Around" as remixed by Midnight Juggernauts has been appearing in my DJ sets for a few months. Now you can be just like Tankboy and include it in your DJ sets as well! Y'see, their debut Galore has finally been released in the states and in order to celebrate the band has released of free MP3 of the aforementioned remix. I'll be honest, the album as a whole leaves me a bit cold with more misses than hits, but when the band nails the balance between rock club and dance floor it's hard to deny. Either the band's next album -- out next year -- will totally suck or it'll be totally awesome. Whatever happens I predict I'm still going to like this remix, no matter what.

How could the last two days have been filled with such a dizzying cavalcade of highs and lows? I have no idea, but right now my brain and general system is wiped out. The most shocking part of the whole weekend? I actually only went out (to DJ) Saturday night!

Friday, December 05, 2008

The Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota of getting free food donated every day to abused and neglected animals. It takes less than a minute (How about 20 seconds) to go to their site and click on the purple box 'fund food for animals' for free. This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate food to abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising. Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know.

I am a jaded and deeply suspicious person so I was ready to toss this straight into the delete file ... but I decided to do a little digging and apparently it's 100% legit!

Between tomorrow and December 18 I am DJing quite a bit around town at a variety of places. This mean you have no excuse for not dropping by at least ONE of those nights, right? In fact you probably should come to all of them since there'll be different styles of music at each, but i understand it's a busy holiday season so I'll let you partially off the hook.

Anyway, the tour starts tomorrow at The Burlington where I will be DJing with my ol' Ten56 partner Rudy Tuesday! Yippee! Wahoo! We start at 10 p.m., so get there early to get a seat ... that place can get pretty crowded on the weekend.

Other dates to hold on your calendar are in the right sidebar there, so take note! (and of course I'll be sure to remind you as each gig approaches...)

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Friendly Foes' debut, Born Radical, doesn't drop until next January, but I've already heard the whole thing and it would have easily made it into this year's Top 20 list. (O.K., technically it's already out in digital format, but I'm not counting it as a 2008 release since their "official" release date is January 13, 2009. You want a taste of what's making my mouth water NOW though, right?

It's wintertime in Chicago, there's snow and ice on the ground, whenever I wait by the bus stop there are no barriers save a few bare trees in Humboldt Park to quiet the wind's razor touch ... it's time to break out the Big Red Coat. The Big Red Coat got its name from my friend Kristina almost a decade ago, but it's genesis prefigures her appearance in my personal timeline by almost another decade.

My father was hit by the late-'80s economy and lost his position as the vice president of a home building company out in Maryland. The job market out East was terrible so he headed back to the Midwest -- where we originally lived -- to see if there were any better prospects. There were, so he moved the family back to the Chicagoland area and everything was terrific. Until he lost that job, and the market still sucked.

So my dad did what he had to do to support his family. He drove limos. He did temp work. And he worked the loading docks for Purolator Courier, a Canadian based transport company similar to FedEx. it was here that he acquired a heavy red jacket dispensed by Purolator Courier for wearing. He actually got a few, since they were built for different temperatures and therefore had different designs. The one I inherited was built for heavy cold and has nice fuzzy pockets I can slip my hand into if I forget -- as I always do -- to wear gloves.

It couldn't have easy for my dad to go from the world of white collar management to working on docks alongside folks who didn't have college degrees. And it must have been humiliating at times to drive a limo for someone whose position he held the equivalent of in the not so recent past. But he did what he had to do to support his family. Now, I don't want to make my dad out to be a saint. He could be infuriating, and at times it was his own conspicuous consumption his manula labor jobs were partially supporting ... but in the end he was willing to take whatever job he coould to keep his family bobbing along uncertain economic waters.

He later went on to get his law degree, and by the time he died we once again comfortably inhabited the white collar world courtesy his job as a corporate lawyer,and truth be told I think he lost a lot of the humility he picked up from rougher years which was kind of frustrating at times. but the Big Red Coat always reminds me that when pressed my dad did the right thing ... and I hope I do the same in times of trial and times of prosperity.

I trekked all the way out to Naperville about a month ago to see this because I am that big of Flaming Lips geek, and I cannot say DON'T SEE IT enough. I have seen very few things as dark and depressing as this movie. It was such a shock coming from the Lips who are one of the happiest and most uplifting bands around.

I'm not exactly sure who this happy sunny Flaming Lips is that this commenter is talking about though. From the get-go Coyne and co. have been pretty seriously dark, and even in recent years as their sound has lightened their thematic interests have grown ever darker. Sure, the band has it's humorous side at times, but even that tends to skew towards black comedy. I think the mistake a lot of more recent fans make about this band is through assuming that Coyne's wide-eyed embrace of life is driven through some sort of hippie idealism.

Their is a life affirming giddiness to their shows, but I even think that is filtered through the band's attempts to dress their darker urges as some intergalactic house party.

I do agree with the commenter on one point, Christmas On Mars is very dark, depressing, and kind of disturbing (as I wrote in my preview of the film) so if that's not your cup of tee, then do please avoid the hell out of it.

But what were you expecting, The Yoshimi That Tickled Christmas? C'mon.

Man, it is way to early to be up, but up I am. I just woke up on the couch after falling asleep mid-Daily Show earlier this evening and now I just can't get to sleep. The beagle is bundled in blankets and snoring softly just behind me while the kitten scratches at her new post in the hallway a couple feet away from me. It's too early to really do anything though. Can't go to the gym. Don't wanna eat. Can't even think about heading into the office for another eight hours or so ... so I'm just left here thinking.

The other day GalPal looked at me and asked, "How do you live your life so, what am I trying to say ... publicly?" She's also a writer but has a hard time understanding how I can be so open about so many things online. I realized I didn't have an easy compartmentalized answer for her since I don't really feel like I'm that public in my thoughts. But of course she's right and I am. Part of it is that I'm a writer, and enjoy sharing my thoughts with folks I think will enjoy what I have to say. And I've had an online presence since 1995 -- which is when the early regular Tankboy emails that were the predecessor of this current site started going out -- so I've sort of developed my "brand" over a long period of time in a pretty natural manner. I've maintained a certain transparency over that time so folks tend to trust what I have to say. And that is even with the caveat that I'm not blindly honest. This isn't a journal ... it's a repository of things that interest me and others, and sometimes those things are events in my life and sometimes they're my thoughts on a new record or book, and sometimes it's just a dumb stream of consciousness short story.

What GalPal's question really made me think about is how much I've adapted to different online trends over the years. I'm not a total believer in all Beta or 1st Generation ideas but I am a pretty early adopter of things that seem like good ideas ... and they tend to stick. I'm a Generation X guy who understands the online community pretty well because I've been plugged in for a pretty long time.

(A REVEAL: I used to belong to a Commodore 64 users club in the '80s, and before that would play with pals' TRS-80s and VIC-20s and save stuff on tape and then floppies. I tried my hand at programming when I was in grade school -- BASIC, heh -- but just never had the mind for that discipline ... but I've been fascinated by communication via computer since as long as I can remember.)

While lots of folks are struggling to get their heads around trends or try to suss out just what the hell is going on in our ever evolving communities and interactions it seems pretty natural to me. And the amount about myself that I reveal to other people feels pretty normal. It's kind of an old school trust exercise, actually, in that I let you in enough to see how I work and why I think the things I do so that when I say something you listen and don't have to waste time wondering what my motivation is, right? It's always been that way, but folks have had to adapt to different iterations of that basic principle as new forms of community interaction have developed.

So to answer GalPal's original query -- how can I be so open about myself to so many people -- it comes down to the simple answer that I've been around a long time and have learned that when you want to gain any sort of influence or the right to even have your opinions considered in the court of public opinion then honesty and transparency -- and even a unobstructed occasional look behind the curtains -- have been and remain to be the best ways of doing so.

Oh yeah, and then there's the writer thing ... and that contains a certain amount of ego presupposing people even have an interest in what you have to say in the first place. But if it were just that then I would be the only one reading anything I ever had to write. Ego is a good starting place but if you don't have anything to say or build any relationships, nothing but ego tends to lead you into a vacuum.